An exact generalized master equation is derived for a large quantum-mechanical system in the form of a power series in the density. This derivation is a quantum-mechanical generalization of a previous work by the author for classical systems. The quantum equation can be viewed as a time-dependent analog of the virial expansion of the quantum-mechanical partition function---for both degenerate systems (Bose-Einstein or Fermi-Dirac statistics) and nondegenerate systems. The coefficients of the series, in the quantum master equation, are explicitly given in terms of operators (Green functions) which are determined by the dynamics of isolated groups of particles and are convergent functions of the interaction potential. Equations are obtained for the off-diagonal elements of the density matrix as well as for the diagonal elements. The equation for the diagonal elements is shown to reduce to a Markoffian master equation for asymptotically long times, and an explicit expression is obtained for the "scattering" operator of this asymptotic equation.
The Nakajima-Zwanzig generalized quantum master equation provides a general, and formally exact, prescription for simulating the reduced dynamics of a quantum system coupled to a quantum bath. In this equation, the memory kernel accounts for the influence of the bath on the system's dynamics, and the inhomogeneous term accounts for initial system-bath correlations. In this paper, we propose a new approach for calculating the memory kernel and inhomogeneous term for arbitrary initial state and system-bath coupling. The memory kernel and inhomogeneous term are obtained by numerically solving a single inhomogeneous Volterra equation of the second kind for each. The new approach can accommodate a very wide range of projection operators, and requires projection-free two-time correlation functions as input. An application to the case of a two-state system with diagonal coupling to an arbitrary bath is described in detail. Finally, the utility and self-consistency of the formalism are demonstrated by an explicit calculation on a spin-boson model.
In a previous paper we showed how time-dependent projection operators may be employed to enable the Nakajima-Zwanzig projection-operator technique for deriving exact master equations to deal efficiently with two or more coupled classical or quantum systems, neither of which is reservoir like. We considered in detail the case where the relevant part of the classical-system probability-density function (PDF) or quantumsystem density operator (DO) is a product of the PDF's or DO's for the separate subsystems, and we applied the techniques developed to problems in quantum optics and in the kinetic theory of dilute nonideal gases. In this paper we make the time-dependent projection-operator approach useful for a greater variety of systems by allowing the relevant part of the PDF or DO to include correlations between two of the interacting subsystems. This extension allows us to describe well the dynamics of strongly interacting systems in a low degree of approximation while avoiding the use of infinite resummations. We derive exact generalized master equations in this manner for the same two cases as in our earlier work, namely a classical gas of
N molecules interacting via a two-body potential and a quantum-optical system of
N two-level atoms interacting with an electromagnetic field. In the former case, the relevant part of the PDF contains two-body correlations, and we obtain two exact coupled master equations for the singlet and doublet PDF's
F1(t) and
F2(t). In the latter case, the relevant part of the DO contains atom-field correlations, and the result is three exact coupled equations for the single-atom DO ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{1}(t)$, the field DO
R(t), and the DO for one atom plus the field $\ensuremath{\chi}(t)$. From the exact equations we derive approximate equations by making simplifying assumptions. In the case of the gas we carry out a straightforward density expansion of the ${\stackrel{\ifmmode \dot{}\else \.{}\fi{}}{F}}_{2}$ master equation and obtain a set of kinetic equations for dense gases, which have been derived previously by Frieman, Goldman, and Dorfman and which describe well effects due to the finite mean free path. In the quantum-optical case we derive kinetic equations for a single-mode laser by treating the $\stackrel{\ifmmode \dot{}\else \.{}\fi{}}{\ensuremath{\chi}}$ equation in the Born-Markoff approximation. The equations describe gain saturation and other effects on the field dynamics which are of infinite order in the atom-field coupling constant. It is shown that these equations reduce to previously derived laser master equations if atom-atom correlations can be neglected. Finally, we mention possible generalizations of the time-dependent projection-operator approach used in this paper and briefly discuss its application to other problems, including the kinetics of liquids, collisional line broadening, superradiance, and amplified spontaneous emission.
The Hamiltonian of one-dimensional chain of n-level atoms is represented in terms of Boson operators by using the Dyson-Maleev transformation and it is shown that the finite-ladder effect disappears when n tends toward infinity. In this way, it is found that the Heisenberg equation of motion of this system is exactly described in the coherent state representation by the dark discrete nonlinear Schrödinger (DNLS) equation. It is also briefly shown that the DNLS equation has some general soliton solutions. This indicates that this simple system has richness of nonlinear waves.
In this paper we derive master equations for two or more systems coupled to each other, perhaps strongly, by using a generalization of the usual projection-operator technique to include time-dependent projection operators. The coupled systems may be either similar or dissimilar and classical or quantum mechanical. Whereas the customary approaches to coupled systems are best able to treat situations in which some of the systems are "baths" with a specified density operator or phase-space probability density, our approach allows us to treat situations where it is necessary or convenient to treat the coupled systems on an equal footing. In our scheme the "relevant" part of the full density operator is considered to be the uncorrelated part of the full density operator and is a symmetric functional of the reduced density operators of each of the coupled subsystems. The "irrelevant" part of the density operator is then the part describing correlations between the coupled systems. Our formalism is particularly useful where systems are coupled to one another predominantly in a self-consistent fashion. First, we develop exact master equations for two coupled systems, taking as our prototype the dynamical problem of quantum optics, where a spatially extended collection of two-level atoms interact with a multimode optical field. We then generalize our results to
N coupled systems, taking as our prototype the kinetics of a classical nonideal gas interacting through two-body forces, and derive exact master equations for the system. We then consider as examples several approximate theories resulting from our exact equations. In the case of the imperfect gas we investigate the low-density limit and show how Bogoliubov's form of the Boltzmann equation emerges from our formalism, as well as corrections due to Klimontovich. We consider as special cases of our exact quantum-optical equations the equations in the first Born approximation, with and without memory, and show how several existing quantum-optical master equations are contained in our general results. As a second example in quantum optics, we consider the case where the predominant behavior of the system is described by the self-consistent-field or coupled Bloch and Maxwell equations and derive a first-order perturbation description for deviations from self-consistent-field behavior.
Abstract A system of <?CDATA
N≫1?> N ≫ 1 interacting spinless quantum particles, described by a statistical operator F(t), is considered. A time-dependent projection operator formalism for a family of projectors, which select a statistical operator <?CDATA
FS(t)?> F S ( t ) for a group of S < N relevant particles by integration of the variables of the irrelevant N − S ‘environment’ particles, is presented. This formalism results in a nonlinear version of the inhomogeneous Nakajima–Zwanzig generalized master equation (GME) for the relevant part of the statistical operator F(t), which contains an undesirable initial condition term related to the irrelevant part of the statistical operator depending on N variables. By introducing an additional operator identity, the obtained nonlinear inhomogeneous Nakajima–Zwanzig equation is exactly converted into a homogeneous nonlinear equation, accounting for initial correlations in the kernel governing its evolution. Both of these equations are equivalent to the corresponding evolution equations for <?CDATA
FS(t)?> F S ( t ) and take into account the dynamics of the environment particles. The equations for <?CDATA
FS(t)?> F S ( t ) are specialized in the linear approximation for the particle density n and analyzed for a one-particle statistical operator <?CDATA
F1(t)?> F 1 ( t ) . It turns out that, in addition to the correlations caused by interparticle interaction, the irrelevant initial condition term in the inhomogeneous equation for <?CDATA
F1(t)?> F 1 ( t ) , defined by the two-particle correlations, also contains quantum correlations conditioned by the quantum particle statistics. The latter do not vanish with time and cannot be disregarded in the conventional way by applying e.g. Bogoliubov’s principle of weakening of initial correlations. In order to take initial quantum and other correlations (commonly discarded in an unconvincing way) into consideration, the obtained nonlinear homogeneous GME has been applied. Exact in the first approximation in n, we obtain a new homogeneous equation for <?CDATA
F1(t)?> F 1 ( t ) , which accounts for correlations and is valid for any time moment t. It is shown how this reversible-in-time equation changes at different timescales and converts into the irreversible quantum Boltzmann equation on the macroscopic timescale without the use of the conventional approximations.